


The Kid Knows & Threatens to Tell

by ratty_basterd



Category: My Chemical Romance
Genre: Adoption, Couch Cuddles, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, M/M, No Smut, Pining, Sleepy Cuddles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-02
Updated: 2020-04-02
Packaged: 2021-02-28 17:08:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23440699
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ratty_basterd/pseuds/ratty_basterd
Summary: Ray adopted Grace almost two years ago. Ray is not married.Ray is single.Grace has known Ray's friend, Gerard, for as long as she knew Ray himself.Ray has a crush on Gerard.Gerard has a crush on Ray.Grace knows both of these as fact.When Ray and Gerard start falling out over a conflict, Grace is determined to bring back their friendship...or something more.
Relationships: Ray Toro/Gerard Way
Comments: 1
Kudos: 14





	The Kid Knows & Threatens to Tell

**Author's Note:**

> enjoi or whatever

The hallway up the stairs was dim with only one glowing light leading the way as Ray walked to his daughter's room, finding that her room was the cause of the light. He smiled as he saw her paint, the golden light in the room shining off of the plastic covering her carpeted floor. Grace was 14 now, independent and swearing full-time, although it was only at home. She had certainly grown a lot ever since Ray adopted her. Grace always wanted help and was very scared, but now she preffered challenges instead of giving them up. Ray sighed and leaned against the doorway, planting his hands in the pockets of his jeans.

Grace heard the quiet shuffling--damn her young ears--and turned around, smiling once as her eyes locked gazes with Ray's. "You're home." She said wistfully, her eyes backlighting themselves in soft gold. Ray chuckled and stood up straight, opening his arms to hug her. Grace smiled and set her brush down, quickly making her way into Ray's arms. "I missed you," she said, her paint-stained hand and arms weaving their way around Ray's torso. "I missed you too, bug." Ray mumbled into her fluffy hair, a hand on the back of her head, pulling her close. 

"Better not leave like that again, mister."

Ray just chuckled in reply.

-

Ray was in his apothecary shop, the one way closer to home, when Grace's school called his phone. He wiped off his hands on a rag and picked up his cell, answering the call quickly. "Hello?"  
"Is this Raymond Toro?"  
"Yes. Should I be concerned?" Ray asked.  
"Yes, because your daughter just tried to harm herself."  
Ray's phone screen shattered as it hit the ground.

-

Ray rushed into the school's main office, being redirected by faculty into the back hall. He entered the principal's office on the right, where he was greeted with the sight of the principal, the vice-principal, and Grace.

Grace was crying.

Ray went over to her and kneeled in front of her, gently putting his hands on both sides of her face to make her look at him. Grace just cried harder, squeezing her eyes shut and holding her torso tightly. "What the hell happened to my daughter?" Ray asked the principal as he glared at him, cradling Grace as best as he could. "Pull up her shirt." The principal said, uncomfortably calm. Ray did as he asked, gasping when saw the racial slur cut into her tummy.

The cut wasn't deep and had already scabbed over quite well, but it was still horrific nonetheless. "Who did this?" Ray asked, tears welling up in his eyes as he held onto his daughter's hands. "She said that it was two other girls, but when we searched all of them, including Grace, and their bags we found nothing. We didn't see them on camera, and the girls hadn't signed out to use the bathroom and their teacher said that they hadn't left all period, so...your daughter faked it." The principal responded nonchalantly.

Grace wouldn't do something so awful, not even if she were being hurt by someone else. "Can...can I just take her home?" Ray asked quietly, silently pleading for an answer. "Yes. She's been suspended for three days. I suggest you talk to her." The principal replied, before turning back to face his computer. Ray quickly picked Grace up and took her out to his car, wondering what the hell he just witnessed.

-

"Did they look at the cameras?"

Ray sighed. "Yes, they did, and they didn't see anything. Grace was just...being outwardly mean." Ray picked at his dinner, not wanting to eat. "Where did she even get a razorblade?" Gerard asked another question, one that Ray couldn't answer. "I don't know, okay? Maybe she did it here and cleaned up well, or flushed it--they didn't find one in her locker." Ray's cheeks went red as his voice tensed, his grip on his fork tightening. "Okay, alright. We don't have to talk about it anymore if you don't wanna." Gerard clearly caught onto Ray's attitude and reassured him quickly. "There's still a possibility of it being real, though." Gerard noted, gaining no response from Ray.

-

Today was Monday, the first day of Grace's suspension. 

"Up and at 'em, Grace. You got extra chores to do today, so go eat breakfast and start cracking." Ray said as he opened her door, waiting for her to move. She didn't. Ray sighed. He walked over to her and lightly shook her, which, unfortunately, didn't work. He shook her a bit more, lightly tightening his grip on her arm. Grace woke up this time, although with a small jump. "Don't squeeze so hard...they're sore," Grace groggily spoke, jerking Ray's hand off of her arm. "Yeah, yeah, now come eat breakfast. You've got chores, schoolwork, more chores, two paragraphs in your suspension journal, and then bed. Get up." Ray stood up as he finished, before leaving Grace to her own devices.

Ray walked downstairs to see Gerard walk through his front door, which was confusing as he was just here last night. "Do you need my help?" Ray asked, to which Gerard sighed. "My apartment is broken. The plumbing is rusty, the stove caught fire twice--I got kicked out so they could fix it. Can I stay?" Gerard asked, playing with the zipper of his jacket. Ray smiled. "You know that I don't care," Ray replied, making Gerard smile.

Grace pushed past Ray to get to the kitchen, putting her thick wavy hair into a tight bun as she entered. "Hey, bug. How're you holding up?" Gerard asked her, making her pause and stare at her feet. She didn't answer, just lightly mumbled in a whisper before shaking her head gently. "Bug, you okay?" Gerard asked, trying to push something out of her. Ray walked over and put a hand on Gerard's shoulder, gaining his attention. "She doesn't need our pity. She needs discipline." Ray whispered, making Gerard give him a slightly dirty look. Ray huffed and went to the living room, sitting down on the couch where the news was playing on the TV.

-

"I know I shouldn't be helping, but something seems sus to me and we need to talk." Gerard whispered to Grace as he popped into the bathroom quietly, grabbing an extra sponge from under the sink and dunking it into the bucket of soapy water on the floor. "Can't talk unless talked to by dad. His rule." Grace replied monotonously, not once shifting her gaze from the tiled floor beneath her as she scrubbed it. Gerard scrunched his nose in a scowl, squeezing the extra water out of the sponge as he did so.

"If you tell me what happened then I can tell dad and all of this will be over with." Gerard pressed, trying to get Grace to talk. She didn't answer, which left Gerard to scrub the shower silently. "The only thing you can do is stop arguing with him," Grace replied, once again not looking at the person she was talking to.

-

Gerard leaned against the wall between the kitchen and living room, quietly watching Grace write out two paragraphs in a red notebook, supposedly titled the "Suspension Journal". Gerard thought it was a little much. He turned around and went back to sit next to Ray on the couch, watching Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Grace wasn't allowed to watch. "When are you gonna read that thing?" Gerard asked Ray, who glanced at him quickly. "Thursday. Before school." Ray said, his eyes glued to the movie. "Read it every night. Make sure that she's not, y'know, pretending." Gerard said in a slightly sarcastic manner.

"Not much will change if I read it now or later," Ray answered, making Gerard huff and hold his head in his hand.

-

Gerard yawned as he stepped out of the bathroom, clad in rainbow socks and pajamas. "Crashing on the couch tonight?" Ray asked, smiling lightly as Gerard sat down on said furniture. "Yeah, but you gotta leave right away. Y'know, neither of us have warm beds." Gerard joked, making Ray softly chuckle. He sat down next to Gerard, pulling his feet up and resting them in the open space between the pair. Gerard copied, tangling their legs together as they watched another movie. 

"...Gee, have you found a date recently?" Ray asked, looking at his friend from an angle. "Why? You interested?" Gerard joked, making Ray turn pink, albeit not noticing. "Oh, uh--no, no, I'm not, uh...I'm looking for, for /women/, okay? God, Gerard, got me all...flustered, geez." Ray stammered as he fidgeted in his seat, looking away from Gerard and hiding behing his hair. Gerard just laughed, his laugh so cute that it was evil.

They sat on the couch for another hour, talking back and forth about current events and their love lives. Gerard yawned when there was a gap in their conversation, making Ray yawn as well. "Mind if I join you on that side? Your house is freezing, Toro." Gerard asked, backing up his statement shoddily. "Sure." Ray pulled out the two back pillows of his couch, sleepily scooting over to give Gerard some room. 

Ray turned off the TV and rubbed his eyes, sleep taking him over gently.

-

Grace was walking out of the bathroom when she noticed her dad and Gerard tangled up in each other on the couch. Her eyes widened and she jogged back upstairs quickly, trying to escape the scene as soon as possible. Gerard had noticed her quick thumps, pulling away from Ray and breaking their sloppy kiss-fest. "Fuck," Ray breathed out, earning an agreeing nod from Gerard. "She'll probably be too embarrassed to say anything in the morning. Let's not worry about it right now." Gerard whispered, leaning back down to lock their lips again.

-

Grace couldn't look either of them in the face the next morning. 

"Happy Tuesday, bug. Dad wants those pancakes to be eaten up. Don't let'em get cold, alright?" Gerard gave her pancakes for breakfast, keeping the atmosphere as casual as possible. Grace just nodded, grabbing her fork and eating without making eye contact with Gerard. 

Gerard sighed and walked into the living room, sitting next to Ray on the couch. "You know that she won't talk to you no matter how hard you try to," Gerard broke the silence. Ray looked at him, melancholy. "Then she can talk to you when she's ready." Ray mumbled tiredly, looking away from Gerard and back to the TV. "Good. Letting her have control for once," Gerard made a salty remark, scowling to himself for closure. 

Grace anounced that she was going to start her outside chores, and then she was off, out of the house. "C'mon. You need some sleep." Gerard said to Ray, standing up and holding out a hand for Ray to grab onto. He reluctantly took hold of it, willing to be led to his room by Gerard.

-

Gerard sat on the porch, watching Grace pull weeds out of the yard. She reassured him that she was okay, and Gerard respected her wishes, opting to just look over her instead. Grace was pulling out a weed towards the edge of the garden, before she gasped and collapsed on the grass. Gerard got up and rushed over quickly, kneeling down to roll her over. Her shirt was spotted with blood, making Gerard wince. Her cuts had opened up.

Gerard picked Grace up gently, walking her inside and taking her to the tub. He ran warm water as he got her undressed, coaxing her into taking her arms away from her torso to look at the damage. "They should scab over again, don't worry." Gerard reassured, before easing her out of her shorts and what-not, helping her into the tub.

"What happened?" Ray appeared in the doorway, rubbing sleep out of his eyes. "Her cuts opened up. You're overworking her." Gerard said, gently washing said cuts, staining the water pink. "No, she's working too hard. She can work just fine if she didn't do it so vigorously." Ray rejected Gerard's statement, putting his hands in his pockets. "No, I said that you're overworking her. I was watching her the entire time and she was getting lazy and exhausted. You gave her thirteen fucking chores knowing that she's hurt." Gerard replied coldly, moving onto another cut. 

"The cuts aren't that big or deep-" Gerard interrupted Ray by groaning. "It doesn't matter! They're still fucking cuts, nonetheless, aren't they?" Gerard raised his voice, pausing his cleaning to glare at Ray fiercely. "They were healed!" Ray said, gesticulating with his hand in reference to Grace. "They were scabbed over, asshole, and you knew that! You put her through-"

"Just shut up already!"

Grace yelled to interrupt the pair, covering her eyes with her hands. "Just last night you two were playing a game of lusty tonsil-tennis and now you're fighting over me. Just shut up for once second and maybe we can settle this, okay?" Grace asked for a compromise, to which the men agreed on.

Grace reluctantly explained the event in moderate detail, pausing every now and then to compose herself. "They've been mean to me for a while now and I'm not surprised that they got away with it." Grace ended her story as she was wrapped up in a towel, being sat on the edge of the tub, getting bandaged up. 

"We'll just have to wait to see what the school says but no more chores from now on, bug." Ray repealed her punishment, picking at his nails anxiously. "Oh, and one more thing--you two need to talk about you-know-what." Grace said, standing up gently to go to her room, the towel draped around her like a cloak. Gerard and Ray looked at each other, turning pink as Grace left. "Yeah, um, follow me." Ray said, leaving the bathroom to sit at the dining table styled island in his kitchen.

Gerard next to him, looking at him with an unreadable emotion behind his eyes. "I don't know how to start this off other than by saying that, well...I'm interested in you. Like, a lot. For a while." Ray admitted, turning beet red. Gerard smiled. "Yeah. I have been too," He replied, blushing as well. "It's--it's been a while since I've dated someone because I was afraid of getting away from you. I thought you didn't like me, and..." Ray trailed off, staring at his hands. Gerard gently pushed his chin up to force eye contact, before leaning in and kissing Ray lovingly.

Ray happily took it, kissing back and cradling Gerard's face as his brain shot out dopamine. A cough from the stairs made them split, before seeing Grace's shit-eating grin, making them all laugh.

-

So it wasn't a hoax.

During locker cleanout before spring break, a razorblade came tumbling down out of one of the suspects lockers, thus getting her and the other girl expelled. They did the ol' switcheroo--hid the blade on them during locker search and hid it in the locker during body search. Needless to say, Grace wouldn't be seeing them for a while.


End file.
